Autocross win propels Formula SAE to 8th-place finish
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A first-place finish in the autocross race helped propel Missouri
S&T to its third top-10 finish in five years in the annual Formula SAE
competition, held May 15-17 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn,
Mich. (photos
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The Missouri S&T team finished in eighth place among a field of 104
contestants from 15 countries. The University of Western Australia won the
overall event.
Final standings were announced during an awards ceremony at the speedway on
Sunday, May 18.
"Every year since I’ve been advisor, which began in 2001, the
competitiveness has become more and more intense. For us to win autocross and
to be so competitive in the other events speaks well of this team and our
program. I’m very proud of this team’s accomplishments in such a highly
competitive annual event."
Hank Pernicka, team advisor
The eighth-place finish was the highest for a Missouri S&T team since
2004, when the team finished fourth out of some 120 competitors. Missouri
S&T also finished ninth in the 2005 event.
Earlier this year, Missouri S&T finished second out of 40 teams in a
similar race in Virginia.
The Formula SAE events, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers,
are designed to showcase the engineering skills of university students. Each
year for the Formula SAE competitions, the teams design and manufacture a new
car. At each event, teams were judged in several performance categories,
including acceleration tests that resemble drag races, and an endurance test.
Judges also evaluate cost and design.
For this year’s series of competitions, the Missouri S&T group designed
and manufactured a miniature Indy-style race car capable of reaching top speeds
of 85 mph.
In Michigan, the Missouri S&T team won the autocross competition,
finished second in a design paper presentation, and finished in the top 10 in
the endurance and cost categories.
"Every year since I’ve been advisor, which began in 2001, the
competitiveness has become more and more intense," says team advisor Dr.
Hank Pernicka, associate professor of aerospace engineering at Missouri
S&T. "For us to win autocross and to be so competitive in the other
events speaks well of this team and our program. I’m very proud of this team’s
accomplishments in such a highly competitive annual event."
Some 40 S&T students were involved in every stage of creating the racing
machine, from computer modeling to welding the car’s steel frame. Each year,
the students design and manufacture a new car for various competitions.
Twenty-three students traveled to Michigan for the event.
According to one of the team leaders, Brad Leuther, Missouri S&T was
behind schedule last year and didn’t finish its car until it arrived at the
first event site. This year, the car was finished early and the team has been
testing it for several months.
Leuther says the 2008 car, which weighs 450 pounds, is faster and easier to
work on than the 2007 model. Last year’s car blew an engine due to oil
starvation, a big problem that has been addressed by the new crew.
“It’s so easy to over-engineer stuff,” says Leuther, a senior in mechanical
engineering from Fulton, Mo. “We evaluated everything this year and tried not
to make it too complicated.”
The final stop on the circuit of this year’s Formula SAE competitions is
Formula SAE West, scheduled for June 25-28 in Fontana, Calif. Missouri S&T
is among the 82 universities registered for that competition.
